Distant-power excavating-machine.



W, F. BRINTON. {HSTANT POWER EXCAVATlNG MACHINE.

APPLICATION HLED OCT.10. I916.

Patented Aug. 14,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. F. BRINTONi DISTANT POWER EXCAVATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 10, 1916. 1,236,904,, Patmtei Aug, M 191?.

3 SHEET$SHEET 2.

W. F. BRINTON.

DISTANT POWER EXCAVATING MA'CHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-10l 1916.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. BRINTON, OF \VASHINGTON, IOWA.

DISTANCE-POWER EXCAVATING-MACHINE.

Application filed October 10, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM F. BRiN'roN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Washington, in the county of Vashington and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Distant-Power EXcavating-ltlachines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to a distant power excavating or road making machine and has for its object the production of a simple and efiicient means for leveling grades by cutting off the hills from an embankment and filling the valley adjacent thereto.

Another object of this invention is the production of a simple and efficient mechanism for not only cutting the bed of the road but also cutting the sides with an edge after a ditch has been formed by means of the several scoops forming an endless chain as hereinafter described.

A still further object of this invention is l the production of a simple and efiicient scoop or bucket whereby the material conveyed thereby may be readily and conveniently emptied therefrom.

lVith these and other objects in view, this invention consists of certain novel combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the excavating machine or apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the apparatus showing an enlarged view of the scoops or buckets cooperating therewith. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of one of the scoops or buckets and digging plows 006perating therewith.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of one of the scoops or buckets.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section through one of the scoops or buckets.

Fig. Fig. 3.

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the driving mechanism for the endless chains used inv connect n th th pp atus.

Specification of Letters latent.

8 is a section taken on line 8 -8 of Patented A11 14, 1917.

Serial No. 124,797. r

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the digging chains and plows carried thereby.

Fig. 11 is a bottom plan View of one rear corner of one of the scoops or buckets.

Fig. 12 is a longitudinal section through a portion of the bottom of the scoop showing the means for holding the yoke frame in an adjusted position.

Fig. 13 is a section taken on line 1313 of Fig. 6.

The present invention is adapted especially for grading roads and the like and has for its object the production of an apparatus for conveniently cutting off a hill or an embankment for the purpose of filling a gully or valley from the material which has been cut from the side of the hill, thereby producing a continuous grade as will be obvious by carefully considering Fig. 1 of the drawings.

By referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the present device comprises an endless chain of buckets 1 which are suitably connected as will be hereinafter described and these buckets pass over the respective conveyer wheels 2 as illustrated in Fig. 1, the wheels being supported upon shafts 3 carried by the supporting frames 4. These supporting frames 4 are carried upon the rollers for allowing the frames 4 to be shifted laterally to a desired position for operation. The conveyer wheels 2 are formed of suitable shape to permit the endless chain of buckets to easily pass thereover and are provided with suitable bevel gears 6 which bevel gears mesh with a driving bevel pinion 7 carried by the driving shaft 8 of the operating engine 9. which engine 9 is placed at a suitable point for conveniently driving the conveyor wheels 2. Each frame 4 is braced by means of suitable cables which engage the frames 4 and are anchored upon the engine 9. A longitudinally ex tending bracing cable 11 also extends upon each side of the frame 4 and longitudinally of the endless chain of buckets 1 and is secured at its opposite end to the engine 9 at the opposite end of the endless chain of buckets which is shown clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Each of the frames 4 is similarly constructed and it is thought necessary only to go into the detail description of one frame, the same numerals being applied to the details of each frame 4.

' Each b cket 0r scoop 1 comprises an elon.

gated body having the vertically extending sides 12 and a bottom 13 is hinged upon the supporting rod 1e carried by the bucket or scoop 1 and is capable of swinging upon this transversely extending rod 14: for the purpose of permitting the bucket or scoop 12 to be emptied. The forward end of the bucket or scoop 12 is provided with a hinged gate 15 for permitting the same to swing up wardly and allow the entrance of material within the scoop or bucket 12 and upon the bottom 13 thereof. This bottom 13 is provided with a downwardly inclined chute 16 which is adapted to travel along the bottom of the grade or road upon which the excavating device is being used and scoop up the loose dirt and force the same upon the bottom 13 of the bucket 1 the pivoted or hinged end of the gate 15 allowing the en trance of the dirt within the body of the bucket and upon the bottom 13. A link 17 is secured to the sides 12 of the bucket and extends under the chute 16 and is adapted to rest within the inner grooves 18 upon the bot-tom thereof for limiting the downward movement of the chute 16 while the device is in operation. A transversely extending finger supporting rod 19 is carried near the bottom of the bucket 12 and below the transversely extending rod 14 and this finger supporting rod 19 carries a plurality of upwardly inclined fingers 20 which extend through the apertures 21 formed in the bottom 13 of the bucket. As the bottom 13 of the bucket is swung to the position shown in dotted. lines when released from the surface of the road or hill upon which the device is working, the fingers 20 will be forced through the apertures 21 and cause the dirt or earth supported upon the bottom to be released therefrom. This is possible because of the different points of the hinged connection between the bottom 13 and the fingers 20, the bottom 13 being supported upon the rod 1% and the fin ers 20 being suanorted upon the rod 19. The forward end of the bottom 13 carries a yoke frame 22 upon which yoke frame 22 is supported a plurality of supporting rollers 23. This yoke frame 22 is provided with rearwardly extending arms 24. which arms 2 l are provided with notches which notches 25 are adapted to be engaged by the latch member 26 carried by the sleeve 27 of the bottom 13. This latch member 26 passes through the sleeve 27 and it should be understood that the arms 24. may be held in an adjusted position with respect to the sleeves 27. As shown in Fig. 11, the latch 26 is engaged by means of a spring 26 to assist in holding the latch 26 in a closed position. It should be further understood that if the endless chain of buckets is not traveling in a straightline but is traveling in an irregular line or a curved line, the yoke frame 22 may be swung to a position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l by withdrawing the inner arm 2st within the inner sleeve 27 and extending the opposite arm 24 from the sleeve 27. The yoke frame 22 adjacent each arm 24 is coiled around a spool 28 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 12 to firmly reinforce the junction of the transversely extending portion of the yoke frame 22 and the rearwardly extending arms The transversely extending yoke portion is supported upon a rigid arm and is soldered or otherwise secured to the under face of the bottom 13 of the scoop.

A plurality of 'harrow disk supporting shafts 30 are carried in the rear of the yoke frame 22 and these shafts 30 support the harrow disks 31, the shafts 30 being inclined toward the forward end of the scoop at their inner ends and being supported upon the braces The outer ends of the shafts 3O engage the arms 33 which are secured to the sides of the scoop and these arms 33 are held in the desired or adjusted position by means of the links 34 which engage the notches 35 formed upon the under face of the arms 33. It should be understood that when it is desired to cause the harrow disks to dig deep into the surface of the ground over which the buckets are passing. that the disk may be thrown down to the dotted position shown in Fig. 7 for digging up the surface of the ground, such for instance when the device is being first started.

The rear end of each bucket is inclined upwardly as indicated by the numeral 36 and is supported by means of the inwardly inclined arms 37 said arms being connected to the supporting chain 38. This supporting chain 38 comprises a plurality of links to which the arms 37 are secured and also over which the hooks 38 of the arms 39 fit, the arms 39 being securedv to the forward end of the scoop 1 as illustrated clearly in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

It should be understood that the scoops or buckets are arranged closely together that is to say the arms 37 are arranged in close proximity of the arms 38 with the next adjoining bucket. The buckets or scoops are adapted to travel upon the surface of the ground over which the excavation is being made in the direction of the arrows indicated in Fig. 1 and as the scoops pass beyond the hill or elevation, the bottom 13 of each scoop will drop away from the,body to an open position such as shown in Fig. 1 and dump the soil or earth from the scoop or bucket into the valley adjacent the hill. In this way, a continuous level. roadway will be produced by the continuous operation of the machine until the desired elevation has been obtained.

A digging chain 40 is placed upon each side of the endless chain of buckets 1 and these digging chains are adapted to travel in the opposite direction to the buckets 1 as shown in Fig. 3 indicated by the arrows appearing thereon.

A plurality of suitable supporting standards 42 are placed at suitable intervals along the side of the endless chain of buckets and to a point about where the buckets begin to dump or empty the material therefrom. These standards 42 are supported upon the rollers 43 to permit the adjustment of the standards laterally and a shaft 44 is adjustably secured to these standards 42 and constitutes a support for the pulleys 45 which support the links 38 of the endless chain of buckets and a plurality of pulleys 46 are supported upon the shaft 44 near the re spective ends thereof and over these pulleys 46 pass the chains 40 as above referred to.

.Plows 47 are supported at suitable intervals upon the chain 40 and are held in engagement therewith by having the eyes 49 passing over the loops 48 carried by the chain 40. Each of the plows or plow blades 47 is engaged by means of a bracing chain 50 which is in turn connected to a sliding block 51 mounted upon a rod 52 carried by an arm 53, which arm 53 is supported or engages one of the links of thechain 40. This arm 53 carries a land wheel 54 at its lower end and a pivoted arm 55 is connected to the supporting shaft 56 of the wheel 47 and engages at its rear end the rod 52. This arm 55 is adjustably secured to the rod 52 by means of a thumb screw or bolt 57 and it should be understood that by adjusting the arm 55 longitudinally upon the rod 52 that the elevation of the wheel 54 may be regulated as indicated by the difierent positions in dotted and full lines of the wheel 54 in Fig. 8.

As above described, a series of these standards 42 are employed and the standard which is the greatest distance from the conveyer wheel carries the frame at the top of the hill and constitutes one support for the outer pulley of the digging chain which carries the digging plows. This digging chain only extends a desired distance as for instance, one-half the length of the endless chain of buckets as it is unnecessary to extend the digging chain throughout the entire length of the endless chain of buckets.

It should be understood that as the machine is in operation, the plow blades 47 will dig into the earth and cause the earth to ride up over the mold board of the plow 47 and be thrown over the sides into the body of the bucket or scoop, the digging chains traveling in the opposite direction from the scoop l. The earth upon the bottom of the roadway or ground which is being excavated will be forced into the bottom of the scoop through the medium of the chute 16 above described. When the buckets reach a point where digging is no longer required and the pressure is released from the rollers 23, the bottom of the buckets will automatically open or swing to an open position such as is shown in Fig. 1 as previously described. Of course, it should be understood that any number of plow points may be employed upon the device without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The longitudinally extending cables 11 are twisted or coiled around the shafts 44 as illustrated in Fig. 3 for holding the shaft 44 in a set position and the inner bracing cables 11 are also coiled around the shaft 44 in a similar manner to that described and illustrated with respect to the cables 11 in Fig. 3.

1t should be understood that the engines 9 are entirely independent of the excavating apparatus and may be moved to the desired position for causing the driving of the conveyer wheels 2 in this desired position by changing the position of the engines so as to bring the driving pinion 7 upon the'free side of the conveyer wheel 2 as shown in Fig. 9, for it should be understood that a bevel gear 6 is formed upon each side of the conveyer wheel 2. A suitable driving wheel 58 is mounted upon each of the shafts 3 over which the digging chains 40 pass and suitable bevel gears 59 are employed upon the inner faces thereof for meshing with the driving pinion 7. It should be understood that the engine 9 may be shifted to or placed at a suitable point for driving the desired beveled gear 59, that is'to say, the gear 59 to the right, or the gear 59 to the left on the shaft 3.

Suitable idle pulleys 60 are supported at convenient points such as shown in Fig. 1 for holding the excavating buckets or scoops in spaced relation while in operation and these idle pulleys 60 are spaced by suitable bracing rods 61, these bracing rods being held in a set position or anchored in their desired position by coiling the bracing cables 11 around the bracing rods 61. The upper pulleys 60 are supported upon the shaft 62 whereas the lower pulleys are suspended upon the rods 61, see Fig. 6. r

A plurality of forward bracing cables 63 are secured to each frame 4 and these cables 63 are also secured at their inner ends to the longitudinally extending cables 11 as shown in Fig. 1. Thestandards 42 are also braced by means of the inclined bracing cables 64 as shown in Fig. 2 for assisting in holding the standards 42 in vertical position. These bracing cables 64 are also secured to the longitudinally extending cables 11 similar to the cables 63 which are secured to the cables 11.

As shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 7, the cleaning fingers 20 are provided with transversely extending plates 65 which lates are beveled upon each side and asslst in scraping dirt from the bottom 13 of the scoop or bucket While the fingers 20 are moved through the bottom 13 while the bottom is being swung to an open position.

It, of course, should be understood that any suitable form of a plow may be used in connection with the scoops or buckets illustrated and described herein without cleparting from the spirit of the invention.

Longitudinally extending reinforcing bars 66 are formed upon the under face of the bottom 13 as shown in Fig. 4t.

What is claimed is:

1. A scoop of the class described comprising a body,said body provided with a hinged bottom, means for delivering cut material to said body and upon said bottom, cleaner fingers supported below said bottom and extending therethrough and adapted to move transversely through said bottom as said bottom is swung downwardly upon said body, and cleaner means carried by said fingers.

2. A scoop of the class described comprising a body, said body provided with a hinged bottom, means for delivering out material to said body and upon said bottom, cleaner fingers supported below said bottom and extending therethrough and adapted to move transversely through said bottom as said. bottom is swung downwardly upon said body, transversely extending cleaner plates carried by the ends of said fingers.

'3. A scoop of the class described comprising a. body, said body provided with a hinged bottom, means for delivering cut material to said body and upon said bottom, cleaner fingers supported below said bottom and extending therethrough and adapted to move transversely through said bottom as said bottom is swung downwardly upon said body, transversely extending cleaner plates carried by the ends of said fingers, and supporting means'carried by the rear end of said bottom and adapted to control the opening and closing thereof.

4:. A scoop of the class described comprising a body, said body provided with a hinged bottom, means for delivering out material to said body and upon said bottom, cleaner fingers supported below said bottom and extending therethrough and adapted to move transversely through said bottom as said bottom is swung downwardly upon said body, transversely extending cleaner plates carried by the ends of said fingers, supporting means carried by the rear end of said bottom and adapted to control the opening and closing thereof, and means for holding said supporting means in an adjusted position upon said bottom.

5. A scoop of the class described comprising a body, a bottom hingedly connected thereto, a yoke frame adjustably secured to the rear end of said bottom, means for pivotally supporting said yoke frame upon said bottom, means engaging the ends of said yoke frame for adjustably holding said yoke frame at an angle with respect to the transverse axis of said bottom, and supporting rollers carried by said yoke frame.

6. A scoop of the class described comprising a body, a bottom hingedly connected thereto, a yoke frame adjustably secured to the rear end of said bottom, means for pivotally supporting said yoke frame upon said bottom, means engaging the ends of said yoke frame for adjustably holding said yoke frame at an angle with respect to the trans verse axis of said bottom, supporting rollers carried by said yoke frame, and a plurality of harrow disks carried by the rear end of said scoop and adapted to cut up material behind said scoop while said scoop is traveling.

7. A scoop of the class described comprising a body, a bottom hingedly connected thereto, a yoke frame adjustably secured to the rear end of said bottom, means for pivotally supporting said yoke frame upon said bottom, means engaging the ends of said yoke frame for adjustably holding said yoke frame at an angle with respect to the transverse axis of said bottom, supporting rollers carried by said yoke frame, a plurality of harrow disks carried by the rear end of said scoop and adapted to out up material behind said scoop while said scoop is traveling, and means for adjustably holding said harrow disks in a vertical adjusted position.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

WILLIAM F. BRINTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, I). G. 

